108. CANTILUPE COLLEGE

The Cantilupe College was founded in 1367 by Nicholas, third Baron Cantilupe, and founder also of Beauvale Priory in Nottinghamshire. Its object was simply to secure a perpetual commemoration of the souls of the founder and his wife. A house was provided close by the cathedral for the accommodation of a warden and seven chaplains, who should celebrate masses daily at the altar of St. Nicholas. They were to have a common refectory, to sing the divine office together in choir, and to be habited as secular vicars; the warden was to have £6 a year, and the others 100s. each. (fn. 1) The church of Leake was to be appropriated to the college for its maintenance. (fn. 2)

A dispute arose in 1422 between the vicar of Leake and the chaplains of the college as to the share in the rectory house and lands which ought to be assigned to the former. The vicar in consequence complained to the bishop, who issued a commission of inquiry into the matter. (fn. 3)

When Bishop Alnwick visited the cathedral in 1437 he found that by the neglect of the dean and chapter the sums appointed for the salaries of the chaplains had not been regularly paid, and that the value of the lands assigned for their support had greatly diminished through floods and other causes, so that in those days there were only two priests serving the chantry instead of eight. (fn. 4) He gave orders for the salaries to be paid in future, but it is improbable that the number of chaplains was ever increased again before the suppression of chantries.

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